The Next Best Book Club discussion

Next month, we'll be discussing California with author Edan Lepucki.

her publisher has given us a total of 10 copies to give away - your choice of Print (for US only) or digital/Netgalley (internationally).


In order to be considered, you must comment here or on the blog for a shot at winning one and secure a spot in the discussion that kicks off on June 20th.


http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

This giveaway will run through May 9th.


Winners will be announced here and via email (if you provide one) on May 10th.


Here's how to enter:

1 - Leave a comment here or in the giveaway thread over at TNBBC's blog (linked above). Let us know which format you prefer - Print (if you request this, you must be a resident of the US) or Digital (Netgalley, available internationally).

ONLY COMMENT ONCE. MULTIPLE COMMENTS DO NOT GAIN YOU ADDITIONAL CHANCES TO WIN.

2 - State that you agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run from June 20th through June 26th. Edan has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for her.

*If you are chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion right here in this thread next month.

3 - If your goodreads profile is blocked (set on private), please leave me another way to contact you.


GOOD LUCK!!!!

I would very much like to win a Print copy of California and I agree to participate in the group discussion. I am a US resident.

I would love to be considered for this giveaway.

I agree to participate in the discussion during the designated time.

I prefer paperback (print).

I am a U.S. Citizen.

I can be reached here on Goodreads through my profile/messages.

Thanks Lori for facilitating these amazing giveaways/discussions! :)

Good Morning! I would like to read California. I am a U.S. Citizen and would be thrilled to participate in the discussion. I do prefer paperback, but would read digital if necessary. You can reach me from my goodreads profile. thank you so much. I have my fingers crossed.

I have been reading raves about this book.would love print copy will be happy to participate in the discussion.

Please include me in the giveaway. I prefer a print copy, and I agree to participate. :)

Please include me in the give away, I live in CA, USA & will review book & participate in discussion. I prefer a print copy.

I am very interested in winning a Print copy of California and I agree to participate in the group discussion. I live in the US.

I would love to join the June group on this book. I would like a print copy, I am in Chicago and will gladly participate in the discussion

I would like to be considered for the Print copy of California. I am willing to participate in the discussion.

I would like to be considered for the Printed copy of California. I will leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon and Barons and Noble will also share on Facebook. Will also be willing to participate in the discussion. Thank you

I would be interested in a print copy of California. I am willing to participate in the discussion.

I have wanted to read this book for so long. Please consider me for a printed copy of California. I live in the US and would love to participate in the discussion.

Yes, I'd like to be considered for a print copy of California, I live in the US, and I will participate in the discussion. In addition, I will leave reviews on Goodreads, LibraryThing, Leafmarks and Amazon.

I would like to be considered for the giveaway of a print copy of California, and will participate in the group discussion.

I would love to participate. I'd prefer a print copy.

Hi all,

I entered everyone's name into the Randomizer and let it run two times to generate a truly random list of winners......

And the lucky winners this month are......

Rhonda
Deanna
Carol
Jennifer
Audrey
Robert
Kim (with the heart)
Ashley
Kim
Karin


Congrats to you all!
I'll be in touch shortly requesting your shipping address, since you all requested print copies of California!

For those of you who entered but did not win, there is always next month, right?!

And thank you to everyone who entered! I love being able to set up the author/reader giveaways and discussions and that wouldn't be possible without your interest and participation!!!

Hmmm. Rhonda's profile is not allowing me to leave a message and since there is no alternate way to contact her, I am moving down the list to the next winner! And that person is.....

Diane


Congrats Diane. I will be reaching out shortly to collect your information!

Man, I was so sad...Then it hit me to try the library. Yay! It's reserved. I'm gonna participate in the discussion if that's okay :)

Lori wrote: "Hmmm. Rhonda's profile is not allowing me to leave a message and since there is no alternate way to contact her, I am moving down the list to the next winner! And that person is.....

Diane


Congr..."

WOW I just read this and I was like OH well maybe I can pick up the book on Amazon and then get to the next message and Woo Hoo!!! :)

Tabitha, ABSOLUTELY! you don't have to win it to be able to join the conversation. The discussion is open to anyone! So cool that you took it out from the library : )

Libraries are the greatest thing on the face of the Earth!

Thanks!

Thank you so much!!

It came last week; very fast. I like the cover; it's something common and yet the picture is also different due to the angle.

I just Got my copy - YAY!

What date is the discussion of this book?

My copy just arrived also. I was expecting just a paperback copy, but it's hardback... and my copy is even SIGNED by the author as well. NICE!

(Look on the title page beneath the authors name. More of an initial than a signature on my copy.)

Diane, the discussion that will run from June 20th through June 26th.

Thanks for responding to Diane, Robert!

And also, BOY! Are you guys getting spoiled. Not only do you get print copies, but they are HARDBACK and SIGNED?!?!?!

Hahaha. And here I am with my sad little digital file : )

I'm almost finished and I gotta tell you guys: this book is Awesomesauce! You won't be disappointed :)

#greenwithenvy@signedcopiesasIfinishmylibrarybook:P

So I realized it's fate that I didn't win this book b/c I'll be in the Badlands the week of the discussion :P

Still gonna post my questions the Sat or Sun before in hopes they get answered.

This was such a wonderful book!

Chris, if you look a few posts above, you'll see this giveaway was closed quite a few weeks ago. Sorry you missed out this time!

Chris, I suggest you reserve a copy at your local public library. Free is always best!

Thanks, all! I'm excited to talk with you guys about my book!

Edan, I can't wait! I'm dying to know what everyone thought : )

I'm a quarter of the way through this book. So far, other than some of the language I don't care for, I like this better than expected! Instead of being a chore, I have set aside other books I need to be reading to keep reading to see what comes next...

By language, Karin, do you mean how she words things, or inappropriate offensive language?

Lori wrote: "By language, Karin, do you mean how she words things, or inappropriate offensive language?"

The latter. It's not because I never actually say the words IRL (one of the habits I am trying to break and not one I do all over the place) but because I hate reading them or hearing them on TV or in movies. In part because it makes me use them more, but mostly because I don't like hearing them (even from my own mouth).

Sure, it's realistic, but crass (yes, this means I am sometimes crass!!!) and I don't like it. Just one of those things I realize that I'm saying do as I say and endeavour to do not as I always do.

That said, there are a very few places in writing where I think they are totally called for and appropriate, such as in the beginning of The Martian (but most of the time even in that book, not needed).

Lori wrote: "Chris, if you look a few posts above, you'll see this giveaway was closed quite a few weeks ago. Sorry you missed out this time!"



D'oh! I was so excited for the chance to enter that I skipped the middle of the thread! : (

I am going to be in the mountains this week where the internet is very spotty. I will join in when I can get the connection.

I just want to say that I really enjoyed this book. I am a fan of post apocalyptic stories especially ones that make you think. My first was way back in 1978 in the 7th grade when I read Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang and I still think of that book all these years later. What does it for me is the possibility of this kind of thing actually happening. The human factor of survival both physically and mentally and the extent that they will go through in order to survive.

California had that for me. It was believable and moved at a more natural pace. (I love a good zombie apocalypse but I am glad that this was not one) It took me into the world and allowed me to experience it along with the characters. I could imagine myself living in this world.

There are a few things that confused me like how so many people could be talked into giving up their children in order to make the community sustainable. How is a community sustainable with out any kind of renewal of life? I do not feel that everyone would be convinced to do that even with the knowledge that their children would be in a safer place. The ending was a bit off for me with how things were in the community. Maybe it was because that part of the story was less developed and seemed rushed into an ending. Over all though I enjoyed this book.

I am 50% through and am indeed finding it a chore... listening to the audio and reading the book.

1) I find the narrator of the audio to be rather annoying... it's her inflections that I don't like. According to her bio, she has "been acting professionally for two years" Her inexperience is obvious. (She probably came cheap)

2) I just find the entire story to be a bit boring.

I will trudge on and have questions ready for the discussion.

Oh no Robert. I am sorry to hear that it's been a bit of a struggle for you. I really enjoyed the slower pace, myself. It was such a break from what I was used to reading within the post-apoc genre.

Also, to my surprise, it became something different than I had anticipated. Which was refreshing too.

Hopefully the second half picks up for you? Are you still reading it or did you DNF?

Just a reminder to everyone that Edan joins us tomorrow!!!
I'm dying to see what the rest of you thought of it.

Believe it or not, I actually have a vacation day tomorrow, but in keeping with my usual habit, I'll kick off the welcome while I'm here!


Edan,

Please be sure you thank your publisher for us, for having made the copies available for us for the discussion. And of course, thank YOU for your interest in hanging with us all week long. We're thrilled to have you!

I'll get the party started with a question,

What was the most challenging part of building the world within the pages of CALIFORNIA?

Hi all, thanks so much for reading my book and participating in this discussion!

I'm going to answer your first question now, Lori, even though it's a day early because I don't have childcare tomorrow and I probably won't be able to check in until the evening.

The most challenging part of the world building was...every part! Ha. Actually the backstory about LA's demise--the loss of utilities, the movement of the rich to privatized communities, and so on--was fairly easy for me. The world came into focus as I wrote, naturally--I didn't plan ahead much, but took it scene by scene and I could see the city and its state of disrepair and panic really clearly. Of course, in later drafts I had to go back and add in more backstory, but in general I tried to show why Frida and Cal were in the woods, and what the state of the world was, through their eyes. So they wouldn't have a ton of information--their experience is localized, particular, emotional. That was what interested me; I didn't *want* to write a lot of exposition, since it wouldn't be true to their points of view. I tried to weave the backstory into the present in pieces. For me, I love books where the suspense is about finding out how characters got where they are--that's how Margaret Atwood's novel ORYX AND CRAKE works, and I wanted to try something similar.

What *was* really difficult was all the stuff relating to The Group! Ugh--why oh why did I decide to write about an underground terrorist organization?! The secrets on The Land were also hard to untangle. Some of them fell into place, and some of them I had to really work for. I am proud of the characters on The Land, and the sense of un-ease, but I feel like I've learned a lot more about story development from--and since--writing this book.

California is speculative fiction, and I'd never tried my hand at that before I began the book. In some ways, it's not that different from writing a book about the world around you: you just put your characters in scenes, and the conflict unfolds, the sensual world materializes. At the same time, it's a bigger job, world building, than in a regular literary story. If you explain one thing, you have to explain another, and another--you truly must play God and step back and see the situation from above, in all its complicated facets.

Edan hi!
I enjoyed the book and thank you! My first question is about the title, does it refer to the state or the man? The more I read, the more it seemed it referred to Cal than the locale.

I am loving it! Thank you so much for the book and the opportunity to be a part of the discussion. I will be back soon with my questions/comments.

Edan, I have to ask because.. honestly.. the book begs you to, if you lived in a post apocalyptic world, similar to the one you developed for CALIFORNIA, would you want to have a child as urgently as Freida did?

Deanna wrote: "Edan hi!
I enjoyed the book and thank you! My first question is about the title, does it refer to the state or the man? The more I read, the more it seemed it referred to Cal than the locale."


Thanks, Deanna! The book refers to both the locale and the man, and also to the a general idea of California--as a paradise, as paradise-gone-wrong. The word "California" itself was actually a name of a mythical island with warriors! There have been so many apocalypse stories based in California, that it felt like the right title. I also liked that no characters say where they are, specifically, and yet, the title of the book is a place name.

But, full disclosure: the book was originally called LAND, and my agent said that was so boring. Naming it California was her idea; I liked immediately. I love the word and how it sounds, for one, and I felt it resonated on a few different levels. My publisher wanted to change it, and I was amenable to the idea if we could come up with a cooler title, but after a few discussions they decided it was good as-is. So...who knows! Any ideas for alternative titles?! :)

Lori wrote: "Edan, I have to ask because.. honestly.. the book begs you to, if you lived in a post apocalyptic world, similar to the one you developed for CALIFORNIA, would you want to have a child as urgently ..."

This is an interesting question, and I think one of the main questions of the book. I wrote the book before I was pregnant, during my first pregnancy, and in the first 6 months of my son's life. So I really had the gamut of experiences! I can honestly see it from both sides. On the one hand, having a child in the face of so much despair and trauma, without knowing if you'll be able to provide safety or even food for your kid, is terribly daunting. I could see deciding NOT to procreate. I know people who aren't having children now, even though they live relatively comfortable, middle-class American lives, because they fear the future on this planet and all it holds (and they fear the present, even, too). While it may not be believable to everyone, I could see a group of people agreeing to not start families in exchange for safety. These are people who have witnessed terrible violence, who don't really believe there will be a future for anyone anyway. What they agree to on The Land is the best of a set of bad options.

On the other hand, having kids can give you hope in a hopeless world. My two children are so--to me!--brilliant and funny and kind and imaginative. I believe that they will change this world, for the better. I feel like I had kids despite my fears about the future--and also, strangely, because of those fears.

That said, if I were left out in the wilderness to survive...I'd die in like 5 days, at the most...!

Edan wrote: "Hi all, thanks so much for reading my book and participating in this discussion!

I'm going to answer your first question now, Lori, even though it's a day early because I don't have childcare tomo..."

What did inspire the idea for The Group?